Thursday, November 04, 2010

Mirror of the future

If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.--George Orwell

Take a good look at the picture above. It could be you.

Two BC police officers beat this man, Yao Wei Wu, bloody. The matter was "investigated," and police have now cleared the police of wrongdoing.

Wu was innocent of any crime--indeed, the case was one of "mistaken identity." No one seems to be asking the obvious follow-up question: would this have been acceptable if no mistaken identity issue had been involved?

The police officers were allowed nearly four months to get their stories straight. The "investigation" itself took nine months. Wu's lawyer, Cameron Ward, called the process a "farce."

I disagree. It was more like a tragedy without catharsis.

In other news, Chief William Blair, who oversaw (if that's the correct word) the G20 police riot in Toronto, is now planning to take stern and decisive action against 90 or so police officers who removed their nametags during their attacks on ordinary citizens. Looks like some of them might lose a day's pay over it.